Broadband’s Impact Broadband’s Impact on Citizen Engagementon Citizen Engagement

Susannah Fox

FCC: The State of Broadband Adoption and Utilization

August 19, 2009

August 19, 2009FCC: The State of Broadband

Trends in broadband adoption at homeTrends in broadband adoption at home63%

55%

57%

7%

9%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2008.3 2009

Broadband at home Dialup

August 19, 2009FCC: The State of Broadband

Broadband in the community: Broadband in the community: How important is high-speed for …How important is high-speed for …

Asked of home broadband users

Very Important

Somewhat important

Not too important

Not important at all

Communicating with health care or

medical providers

34% 31% 14% 19%

Finding out what is going on in your community

31 37 15 16

Contributing to economic growth

26 36 17 18

Communicating with government officials

26 31 17 23

Sharing your views with others about

key issues

23 35 20 22

55% of broadband users cite at least one as “very important”

August 19, 2009FCC: The State of Broadband

Summary of reasons dial-up and non-internet users cite for not having broadband at home

% of dial-up + non-online

users% of all

adults

Relevance(not interested in getting online + nothing

could get me to switch + too busy + other unspecified reasons)

50% 13%

Price (price must fall + too expensive + no

computer)19% 5%

Availability 17% 4%

Usability(difficult + waste of time + too old + physically

unable)13% 3%

August 19, 2009FCC: The State of Broadband

ConclusionConclusion

• Broadband adoption is up, especially for older Americans, lower income groups, and in rural areas.

• Broadband users value their increased access to health and medical information, civic life, and economic opportunities.

• Non-users most often cite factors relating to relevance of the internet to their lives as reasons for non-adoption.

• Price and availability are lesser issues when it comes to broadband adoption.